Day 36: Dora Point to Scamander

We started the day with a cleaning job. We had been leisurely enjoying breakfast in the van when David spotted another padamelon outside. I had an open sleeping bag over my legs as it was still a little chilly, and foolishly I tried to leap up to see the marsupial out the other side of the van. Me or my actions on the sleeping bag knocked over my full cup of coffee. The sleeping bag, however, also saved me and the seat cushions from getting any spillage. … I should know by now that slow deliberate movement inside the van is best…but alas even five weeks into our journey and I’m still prone to error.

Beerbarrel Beach (no barrels in evidence!)

After (the initial) cleanup we drove into St Helens. We did the rest of the cleanup at the end of the day when we got access to a laundry (I should say David did most of the later cleanup, really...he does the laundry most of the time in our house. He did his best to handwash the sleeping bag and it drip-dried on the caravan park's Hills Hoist for 24 hours. We'll give it a good machine wash when we get home.) At St Helens I got a hair cut from a former Queenslander, David used the dump point for our waste water, we got groceries, sent off a signed form to our real estate agent, and checked out the visitor centre.

We then drove out to St Helen’s Point for an early lunch and did an hour-long walk to Beerbarrel Beach, and then a short drive to see a portion of the Peron Dunes (large sand dunes).

Sand dune: our sons would have
had tonnes of fun with snow sleds
on this! It was really hard to capture
the enormity of the dunes in a photo.

After this we drove a relatively short distance to the next town we were staying in: Scamander. It’s also a beachside town, and closer to St Helen’s than we realised. 

So a relatively short day of activity, but probably okay as David was showing signs of decision fatigue. We’ve realised that so much of the decision-making about how we used our personal time in the last 25 years has been dominated by what’s best for the boys. Making decisions just for us is still very novel and a bit tiring in a strange way!

When you realise that your size L feet
(Japanese sizing) aren’t actually that big!
In Australian sizing they are 8.